Samay Raina and other stand-up comics known for their brand of dark comedy were handed out a unique judgement from the Supreme Court on Thursday. Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagadish Tanwar are the other comedians involved in the case.
According to the new Supreme Court ruling, comedians like Raina will now have to host "specially-abled persons with success stories" at least twice a month on their shows or platforms.
The verdict also instructs them to "generate and raise funds for the timely and effective treatment of persons with disabilities".
"We hope and expect that such few memorable events will take place before we hear the matter next ... You are all well-placed persons in the society. If you have become too popular, then share it with others," said a bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, calling it a "social burden", rather than a "penal burden".
"Good one, SC," an X user wrote.
"He already did so many work for them, not only with hallow success stories, but he literally made them successful through his platform," another X user opined.
"CJI Kant is showing a very progressive mindset. Instead of punishing them financially, he is forcing them to use their massive platform for good. Smart move," another X user said.
"This is crazy. SC has no say in who Samay invites to his show," an X user said, criticising the judgement.
The ruling comes after disability charity CureSMA Foundation filed a plea in the apex court, claiming that comedians like Raina had made insensitive remarks against differently-abled people.
“In one of the programmes, the children were ridiculed ... when such disparaging content comes from a crowd platform, it is difficult to get funding,” said Aparajita Singh, representing the charity, adding that treatment costs were often exorbitant.
This follows an August 2025 ruling against the five content creators, in which they were warned that they could not “press free speech rights when monetised content offends the dignity of others". The bench had also called their shows "perverted" and "disgusting".